Funded by: The Northwest Native Chamber
Nikolyn is an enrolled member of the Kickapoo Tribe of Kansas and is also Oneida and Cherokee. She comes from a family of artists. She was born and raised on the Flathead Reservation in Montana. When she was young, her family was very poor. Her father worked as a teacher at the tribal high school and often brought her and her older sister to work with him. They had few toys, but her father had access to the unlimited supply of notebooks bought as school supplies for the students. She and her sister spent hours filling the pages of the notebooks with their own version of ledger art. Throughout childhood, her favorite (and, indeed, primary) source of entertainment was a drawing pad and a pencil.
After high school, Nikolyn spent several years trying to be practical and pursue a sensible career. She has a degree in psychology and most of a degree in computer science. She has worked in these fields and has also spent several years selling yarn and knitting fanatically, working as a personal trainer, and as an event planner. Ironically, without passion, these careers proved unfulfilling and, thus, impractical.
Nikolyn pursued a master’s degree in art and art history at the University of Montana, finishing in 2018. She taught art history at the University of Montana and Portland Community College for several years, specializing in Indigenous art history, as well as illustration-based studio classes online. She unites her love for drawing and detail with her love for color in a mixed media process.